Episode 9 Super League Show

Hello, we are at the start of Super League's busiest time of the year.

The Easter storm of two games in four days is almost upon us. But

before that we have the relative calm of Warrington versus St Helens

and the rest of the action from round nine. Saint Mark Flanagan is

alongside Brian Noble. Start on the field at the Halliwell Jones

stadium. St Helens beat champions Leeds last week. Could they beat

Warrington this week? Dave Woods was watching.

It is an atmosphere to saver. 15,000 inside the stadium. A record

for Warrington. Beware the Saints whose pummelling of Leeds was

evidence of a side who have their Here comes Wellens. Running up the

angle and with purpose. And Gardner scores! A try after only two

minutes for St Helens. Really well worked from the scrum. Lomax, they

are off on the angles here. Wellens and Riley not knowing where to

stick or twist. Here is Roby. Lomax is inside ball. Wilkin, he has got

the runner from Lomax. It is not forward. The referee says play on.

Wellens with another. What a start by St Helens. Two tries in the

opening 11 minutes. Wilkin with real determination there. Lomax in

support. Wellens always seems to They are going again here, it is

another for Wellens. My word! Warrington are stunned here, really

crisp handling across the line. They are off again here. Warrington

is being stretched. One more time. Lomax. It will twist and turn by

him. He has got it away. It is Wonderful off load by Johnny Lomax.

And Meli in at the corner. Great hands, confidence is absolutely

searching from St Helens at the moment. Keep the momentum going say

the coaching staff and the Saints A decent drive by Hill. If they are

going to score, now is time to do it for Warrington, there is only a

couple of minutes of this first half remaining. Here is Hodgson

with it. And they have got a toe hold back in the game. Just before

Well, across the line it went. Hodgson with a dummy. Sends them

the wrong way and maybe there is a chance. They are going to have to

restart because there is still eight seconds left on the clock in

this first half. No more time than this one tackle. What is he doing?

Wilkin! Might have been absolutely gifted a try here. What was Carvell

doing? Last tackle. In the half, on his own line, surrounded by St

Helens player, tries to off load. Was there a Was there are from Wilkin

that saves Carvell? I think there might have been. The video referee

will have the decision it was a knock on. But still, plenty to

smile about by St Helens. After Six minutes of the second half

Question asked by Wilkin, answer provided by the referee. Try, he

says. And a very good try as well. So just the two scores the

difference. As far as the score board is concerned. The referee

says that is back to one because Monaghan played it. I am not so

sure. St Helens are given another set here on this Warrington line.

It is dropped on the outside. Roby. Here comes Sia Soliola. He reaches.

And scores. And I think he knows that might just be the moment when

the match is settled. And a very popular try as well. He has had his

off field problems Sia Soliola of late. That was to be played by

The game is up. A question of waiting for the full-time hooter.

Warrington looking to fin wish a flourish. This is good from Atkins.

Look at the pace on that. What a very smart try to finish with. It

will be the final act of the game. Because the hooter is about to

sound, but real skills here from Atkins. Terrific toe on balll, good

chase as well. The Warrington fans are determined to celebrate right

to the last, but this has been St Helen's night for a second week

running. So Mark, an easy one to start, what

has been secret of the turn round? I am not sure, we were struggling

for a few week, we lost four on the bounce, and it was unfortunate that

Royce had the leave. As part of the playing group we must feel

responsible for that as well. Since Mike Rush and Keiron have come in

we seem to be a bit more, a buzz is round the place. Confidence is back

up. We have had Lomax and James Roby coming back and that has given

us a boost. You have started so quickly, the game is won within the

first 20 minute, is that something you have looked at. Any game you

want to start well. We have done that. We have played two good sides

in Leeds and Warrington. Probably they have had off days, we saw then,

there was a few mistakes by Warrington an we managed to

capitalise on that. We had Adrian Morley in last week he talked about

Warrington not at their best this season. They have got away with it

in a few games. Some people are saying it is uncharacteristic. They

are not going to die wondering, probably the part of it is there is

a few too many for their own liking, but they don't stop playing, I

admire the way they approach the game and sometimes it is about

decision making, sometimes individual decisions cost the team,

but, slightly uncharacteristic, I reckon you will see the games when

they were winning, they still have a reasonably higher score rate, if

that is the right expression, I don't like to call it that. They

play more, they will drop more, think a what they are saying maybe

an element of tightening up in certain area, with certain decision,

the difference again, Mark alluded to it there, when you give St

Helens free ball and Wigan free ball and Leeds free ball and things

like this, it becomes very difficult that the top level with

other teams. It is harder. I don't think they are that far away

Warrington and they will come back strong. Mike Rush and Mark

Cunningham are putting together a good job press peck us the, but the

old guard have been fantastic. older player in the club like the

captain and a few others have stepped up and showed the

leadership quality, and it has been important for us, they have really

stepped up to the mark. And nice easy fixture for you next up, a

matter of Wigan. Yes the local derby. I am looking forward to it.

I have friends there. It will be a great day for me. And it will be

tough. And go in there with a lot of confidence. Should be a good

game. Warrington beaten and Huddersfield have replaced them as

Super League leaders. The Giants beaten, weren't they on Friday?

listened to the game, and there was 30 minutes before we had a score,

and it was a bit of a knock on before that, but that is a fabulous

cap from hard acre. Unbelievably good. Eorl Crabtree looks like he

should be doing something near the line and get over from a short

distance. Flynn of supporting from Jason to get over in the corner

which took the game in Huddersfield's favour. They play

this great rugby, how many times have we seen that kick through the

middle for Eden who has rave reviews.

Liken by his coach to a young Billy Slater. That might be too much of a

medal to carry. We see him making the break and if he is getting the

He is like Billy Slater he must be some player. And Leeds, a lot of

injuries. I think they had three players out. Which is a fair bit of

strike. But they finish strong with Kylie there. So they will have to

pick their game up too. Huddersfield go top but what about

the teams tat bottom. Castleford went in at the foot of the pile.

They hosted Hull KR on Friday. Hull KR looking for a swift start

against a Tigers side who can't buy a win at the moment. Here is Joel

Clinton. Wrapped up as the Tigers have early defending to do. Now

Withers. Opportunities here for well ham to get the first score.

Now Chase. Lateral thinking from the Tigers star. Still going, great

ball out wide and Griffin with the response. Dobson for the Robins.

Now well ham for his second try! Back it comes to Chase. Teasing

kick and another try in the game. Youngquest scores. All for the

Tigers. On to Chase. Spirited run from Emmet. Great off load, a

brilliant try from Owen. Now they push forward with Dobson. Surely a

forward pass. Hodgson to the line and a crucial try just before half-

A real tease on at the defence. Chris Welham now in support, this

is his hat-trick try. Lincoln Withers starts and finishes the

move. Kirk Dixon will score, is the comeback on? He has got the ball

down. Seconds left. Nick Youngquest, with virtually the last play, the

Tigers have won it. I think that will give them a lot

of confidence. All you need is a win to get out of a rut. And they

showed such character at the end. It was a great try it at the end. A

few great balls. There's a specially extended edition of the

Super League Show next weekend to include all the best moments from

the Good Friday round of matches. We'll be on the air at 12:35 next

Sunday lunchtime when amongst the highlights will be the Hull derby

from the KC Stadium. In such a divided city, there's no such thing

as no man's land, so we got four of their players on neutral water to

There is a lot of pressure on you, Tom. I am aiming for the middle of

the bridge, we will see if we get their. There will there be this

much pressure on Derby Day? I think quite a bit more but we're there to

Expectations of the game? Feisty, full on. You saw bodies the day

after but we are all used to that. We expect to win. When it comes to

a Derby, how different is it? a lot different, a much bigger

crowd. It is bragging rights for the city. You go that extra bit in

I think it will be entertaining, as they all are. It is passionate for

the fans to get the first bragging Kris Wellham, Craig Hall, Danny

Nicklas and Tom Briscoe our four men on the boat there. And Hull

warmed up for the derby with victory over Bradford on Friday.

There are looking really solid. and they deserve their top-three

placing at the moment. They're turning the clock back there with

the kind of pace that they're showing. They could not quite

finished them off until the last but they do look solid. They have

got that individual talent that you need in the game. And Karl Pryce

seems to score in every game that he plays. He is in the right place

at the right time. Bradford have problems so it is important for

them to hang on to these young players. I think so. This one was a

fabulous try. Keeping the ball alive, this makes a set of six

asset of 12 if you make that many tackles. The offload, the quality

of the decision-making, anything you want to see in a game you can

see in this try at the end. Hull showed the kind of characteristics

he need for that Championship. Tom Chris Gowell in the corner with a

fabulous finish. The big talking point of the last seven days has

been the plight of the Bradford Bulls. The club say they need to

raise a million pounds over the next four weeks to stay in business.

And there's a warning that Friday's game against Leeds at Odsal might

We had a number of well-documented financial issues, some postulated

and some legal issues. It has affected all our income streams. In

the short term we have a tax bill to meet and then issued with the

Bank. That has brought the In 1996 Bradford where the team,

they won four Super League titles. A couple of cups along the way,

three World Cup Championship titles as well. That all started to

unravel in 2004 with the purchase of Harrods. There was a long and

protracted court case that lost Bradford a lot of money. There was

a lot of income being poured into the Bradford Bulls which was not

Unfortunately we're not a financial institution so we cannot provide

them with the money they need to get through their cash situation.

But everything they have asked to I do not know how we will raise

that amount of money in that time. Hopefully people will respond or

there may not be a Bradford Bulls. It is assigned of the decline of

What do you make of it all? It is extremely sad, first and foremost.

It is really shocking for all of us. It is sad and there in less serious

plight. There are not joking around here, it is not a scam, it is a

serious situation. It has been heartening to see the whole of

rugby league rallying around. Stephen O'Connor this week pledged

�10,000. It is a sad state of affairs to seek a club going

through these troubles. They used to win all this silverware. That

now seems miles away. Fingers crossed we will get through all

this. Does rugby league need to step back and say, you need a big

money man to survive? They will need to look at revenue streams.

I'm sure other clubs are finding it difficult to make ends meet in the

current climate. There is a real possibility that we need to look at

how would get money in. You can't not always find a benefactor. Leeds

is as successful club, but it is hard to go in other places and not

see people putting their hands in their pockets to make it work. The

Super League instigated that, that they had to measure up to the

criteria. The policing of that may need to be more vigorous. They

really need a good full house on Friday night. Let's hope we can get

that kind of number through the gates and get some money into the

club. Wigan made the short trip to Salford on Friday, it looked like a

contest for a while, but the Warriors eventually ran away with

it. Since Sean Long came on board, he has brought an attacking ethos

to them. They have got some great outside backs finishing off the

tries. But Wigan in the end were too strong for them. What to make

of them so far this season? Wigan had a decent start, they are

another team that like to start well. I think this game was over at

half-time to all intents and purposes. They look fluent. Finish

his playing especially well at the moment. They're going to be a

really tough team. They have had a couple of blips by their own

standards. Salt would look really good with the ball. But Wigan

themselves complain 1812. Salford perhaps needs to look at their

defence. Potentially. Some of those tries from Wigan are pretty

difficult to defend against. You cannot stop scoring. Salford have

been exciting to watch. Danny Williams is such a dangerous threat.

They are creating fabulous opportunities. At times it is the

bounce of the ball but here it is the quality and the skill of Wigan.

Huddersfield have got a nice easy one. If you take any game, and

there is a potential banana skin. You have to take every game

seriously and approach it that way. The capital was calling for

Wakefield on Saturday night, a bit of a basement battle this one with

the London Broncos hosting Richard Agar's Wildcats. Here's the best of

London and looking for only their second win of the season. There is

a real chance here, driving towards the line. It is that good header.

Randall has set the home side rolling. What a try from Sarginson.

Robertson is there, he gets the ball down. And Roberts will score

again. It goes out wide. There is plenty of support. And a brave

finish. Wakefield have thoroughly out classed. But the chance of a

break here. Acres of space to race in two. Dawn powering away. What a

finish! It has been a Wakefield whitewash.

You wear impressed by London bouncing back after that defeat?

played them at Twickenham and it was a tough game. I was surprised

after that that they did not pick up many wins. They have a few

internationals and they're always going to have a good season.

Widnes fans might like to look away now, these are the best tries from

what was another heavy defeat for the Vikings on Saturday. Where do

they go from here, Mark? Well they're averaging of 45 points

again but then they seemed to get thumped the next game. But they

know what they're doing now. They will understand the problems. And

recognise that it is a tough place to go, Catalan. You have the

element of travel, it is hot. Damien Cardace, he has got that

speed as well. What a debut for him. And thoroughly deserved his four

tries. They have unearthed a real gem bear. Great for the French

rugby league to have these young players coming through. It is. To

have these players coming through can only be a good thing. Clint

Greenshields scored a hat-trick but was completely overshadowed by this

young man! Damien Cardace enjoys all the plaudits from the coach and

from the rest of the players. the teams head into the busy Easter

period, let's see how things stand Huddersfield are back on top of the

pile, Hull move above Warrington into second, and St Helen's have

made their way into the play off positions. Widnes are back on the

bottom after that heavy defeat in bottom after that heavy defeat in

So how do you get through this Easter period? A lot of ice baths.

We're playing Friday and Monday so after that first game you just have